Saturday, December 20, 2014

THE DOHENY SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO THE HAVA SUPAI CANYON, NORTHERN ARIZONA, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1924, PART 2 - THE FIGHTING MAN AND ELEPHANT:

Hubbard's photograph of a man supposedly fighting

with an elephant in Havasupai Canyon.

On June 21, 2014, I posted a column titled DINOSAURS IN ROCK
ART – THE HAVASUPAI CANYON HADROSAUR. In this I expressed my disbelief in the
claims of creationists that there are rock art examples of dinosaurs that prove
that humans and dinosaurs coexisted and interacted. The example I discussed in
that posting, the Havasupai Canyon so-called “hadrosaur” was first recorded by
the Doheny expedition in October and November of 1924. On December 13, 2014, I
posted a column about that expedition entitled THE DOHENY SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION
TO THE HAVA SUPAI CANYON, NORTHERN ARIZONA, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER, 1924. In this
I gave more detail about the background for the publication of the astonishing
claims of Samuel Hubbard.

This expedition was led by Samuel Hubbard, Honorary Curator
of Archaeology at the Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, who also wrote the
report that I quote below:

“The Doheny Scientific
Expedition to the Hava Supai Canyon in Northern Arizona, was organized for the
express purpose of bringing before the scientific world, certain discoveries
relating to prehistoric man made by the writer in three previous visits to this
isolated region.” (p. 3)

“This canyon was first
visited by the writer in November, 1894, and in February and March, 1895. Most
of the matters of prehistoric interest described in this pamphlet, were
observed at that time but their true significance was not fully recognized.
Endeavors were made at various times to interest scientists in this discovery,
but without avail. - - - -

The fact that some
prehistoric man made a pictograph of a dinosaur on the walls of this canyon
upsets completely all of our theories regarding the antiquity of man. Facts are
stubborn and immutable thins. If theories do not square with the facts than the
theories must change, the facts remain.

Samuel Hubbard,
Director of the expedition.

Oakland, California,

January 26th,
1925.” (p. 5)

Not content with just finding a petroglyph of a standing
dinosaur on this expedition, Hubbard also discovered a petroglyph supposedly
showing a man and an elephant fighting.

On the same wall with
the dinosaur pictograph, and about 15 feet from it, we found a pictograph which
was evidently intended for an elephant, attacking a large man. The elephant is
striking the man on top of his head with its trunk. The wavy line represents water
into which the man has retreated up to his knees. Both arms are upraised and
the fingers are visible on one hand. The other hand holds something, the form
of which is too vague to be determined. Because there are no tusks indicated
our surmise is that it is a cow elephant.

The remains of
elephants are very common all over North America and they are found from Alaska
to Mexico. Three species are represented: the mammoth, the mastodon and the
imperial elephant (elephas imperator) of California. -

We think it probable
that the pictograph is intended to represent the California variety. It is
apparent that if the man and the elephant are drawn to the same scale, the man
is taller than the elephant. In other words the man is more than 14 feet high.

This prehistoric
tragedy is significant of several things. Did the men of that day have a taste
for elephant meat and prey on the elephant calves? The attack of an infuriated
cow elephant whose baby has been slain can be easily understood.” (p. 15)

Crabclaw bighorn portrayal, Petrified Forest

National Park, Photograph Peter Faris.

Grand Canyon desert bighorn sheep,

National Park Service Photo.

The first problem that I see with the claim that this
picture shows a human fighting with an elephant is that the supposed elephant
appears to have long, relatively thin legs ending in the cloven hoofs of what
Campbell Grant called “crab-claw bighorn sheep.” There is no possible way that
the feet on this creature could belong to an elephant. Then we have to look at
that problematical trunk of the elephant. It extends on past the head of the
man farther to the left. If the man is 14 feet tall as Hubbard contends, then
this elephant has a trunk that is around 20 feet long! I submit that Occam's Razor points to the
improbability of a race of 14 foot tall men fighting toe-to-toe with elephants in prehistoric North America.

I am afraid that I have to ascribe the
identity of the animal next to the human figure to the desert bighorn sheep species (albeit a very crude portrayal of such), which still lives in and around the
Grand Canyon and are commonly seen there, a food species of considerable
importance to the ancient inhabitants of the American southwest. It is clear
that Samuel Hubbard led a very unscientific expedition.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Pages

"We can be nearly certain that we who look upon the rock art today were not the intended audience. But they have meanings for us non-the-less. Whether that meaning is part of our archaeological studies, a part of national or regional heritage or simply an appreciation of their aesthetic beauty, we are their inheritors and it is up to us to preserve them with care and dignity." D. Russel Micnhimer, 2012.

CONTACT US AT: ARCHEOFARIS@YAHOO.COM, you can make comments, suggest subjects for future postings, or send a photo as an attachment to your e-mail for consideration as a future Pix Pick (submitting your photo is understood to include permission for use). NOTE: The previous e-mail address, rockartblogmail@yahoo.com, was apparently blocked by Yahoo for some unknown reason so I can no longer access it. If you have tried to communicate with me through that address I probably have not received your message.

Search This Blog

About Me

30+ year member of the Colorado Archaeological Society,
Founder and former President of the Colorado Rock Art Association,
Member of the Arapahoe County Cultural Commission, President of Institute for Archeoesthetics.
2013 recipient of the Ivol Hagar Award for outstanding service to the Colorado Archaeological Society, and a 2013 Colorado Rock Art Association Chapter Achievement Award. Member of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Committee and also Programs Committee of History Colorado.
Arapahoe County Cultural Council.